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Slack Setup

Connect Hermes Agent to Slack as a bot using Socket Mode. Socket Mode uses WebSockets instead of public HTTP endpoints, so your Hermes instance doesn't need to be publicly accessible — it works behind firewalls, on your laptop, or on a private server.

warning Classic Slack Apps Deprecated Classic Slack apps (using RTM API) were fully deprecated in March 2025. Hermes uses the modern Bolt SDK with Socket Mode. If you have an old classic app, you must create a new one following the steps below.

Overview

Component Value
Library slack-bolt / slack_sdk for Python (Socket Mode)
Connection WebSocket — no public URL required
Auth tokens needed Bot Token (xoxb-) + App-Level Token (xapp-)
User identification Slack Member IDs (e.g., U01ABC2DEF3)

Step 1: Create a Slack App

The fastest path is to paste a manifest Hermes generates for you. It declares every built-in slash command (/btw, /stop, /model, …), every required OAuth scope, every event subscription, and enables Socket Mode — all at once.

  1. Generate the manifest: bash hermes slack manifest --write This writes ~/.hermes/slack-manifest.json and prints paste-in instructions.

  2. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps → Create New App → From an app manifest

  3. Pick your workspace, paste the JSON contents, review, click Next → Create

  4. Skip ahead to Step 6: Install App to Workspace. The manifest handled scopes, events, and slash commands for you.

Option B: From scratch (manual)

  1. Go to https://api.slack.com/apps

  2. Click Create New App

  3. Choose From scratch

  4. Enter an app name (e.g., "Hermes Agent") and select your workspace

  5. Click Create App

You'll land on the app's Basic Information page. Continue with Steps 2–6 below.

Step 2: Configure Bot Token Scopes

Navigate to Features → OAuth & Permissions in the sidebar. Scroll to Scopes → Bot Token Scopes and add the following:

Scope Purpose
chat:write Send messages as the bot
app_mentions:read Detect when @mentioned in channels
channels:history Read messages in public channels the bot is in
channels:read List and get info about public channels
groups:history Read messages in private channels the bot is invited to
im:history Read direct message history
im:read View basic DM info
im:write Open and manage DMs
users:read Look up user information
files:read Read and download attached files, including voice notes/audio
files:write Upload files (images, audio, documents)

caution Missing scopes = missing features Without channels:history and groups:history, the bot will not receive messages in channels — it will only work in DMs. Without files:read, Hermes can chat but cannot reliably read user-uploaded attachments. These are the most commonly missed scopes.

Optional scopes:

Scope Purpose
groups:read List and get info about private channels

Step 3: Enable Socket Mode

Socket Mode lets the bot connect via WebSocket instead of requiring a public URL.

  1. In the sidebar, go to Settings → Socket Mode

  2. Toggle Enable Socket Mode to ON

  3. You'll be prompted to create an App-Level Token:

  4. Name it something like hermes-socket (the name doesn't matter)
  5. Add the connections:write scope

  6. Click Generate

  7. Copy the token — it starts with xapp-. This is your SLACK_APP_TOKEN

You can always find or regenerate app-level tokens under **Settings → Basic Information → App-Level Tokens**.

Step 4: Subscribe to Events

This step is critical — it controls what messages the bot can see.

  1. In the sidebar, go to Features → Event Subscriptions

  2. Toggle Enable Events to ON

  3. Expand Subscribe to bot events and add:

Event Required? Purpose
message.im Yes Bot receives direct messages
message.channels Yes Bot receives messages in public channels it's added to
message.groups Recommended Bot receives messages in private channels it's invited to
app_mention Yes Prevents Bolt SDK errors when bot is @mentioned
  1. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page

danger Missing event subscriptions is the #1 setup issue If the bot works in DMs but not in channels, you almost certainly forgot to add message.channels (for public channels) and/or message.groups (for private channels). Without these events, Slack simply never delivers channel messages to the bot.

Step 5: Enable the Messages Tab

This step enables direct messages to the bot. Without it, users see "Sending messages to this app has been turned off" when trying to DM the bot.

  1. In the sidebar, go to Features → App Home

  2. Scroll to Show Tabs

  3. Toggle Messages Tab to ON

  4. Check "Allow users to send Slash commands and messages from the messages tab"

danger Without this step, DMs are completely blocked Even with all the correct scopes and event subscriptions, Slack will not allow users to send direct messages to the bot unless the Messages Tab is enabled. This is a Slack platform requirement, not a Hermes configuration issue.

Step 6: Install App to Workspace

  1. In the sidebar, go to Settings → Install App

  2. Click Install to Workspace

  3. Review the permissions and click Allow

  4. After authorization, you'll see a Bot User OAuth Token starting with xoxb-

  5. Copy this token — this is your SLACK_BOT_TOKEN

If you change scopes or event subscriptions later, you **must reinstall the app** for the changes to take effect. The Install App page will show a banner prompting you to do so.

Step 7: Find User IDs for the Allowlist

Hermes uses Slack Member IDs (not usernames or display names) for the allowlist.

To find a Member ID:

  1. In Slack, click on the user's name or avatar

  2. Click View full profile

  3. Click the ⋮ (more) button

  4. Select Copy member ID

Member IDs look like U01ABC2DEF3. You need your own Member ID at minimum.

Step 8: Configure Hermes

Add the following to your ~/.hermes/.env file:

# Required
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-your-bot-token-here
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-your-app-token-here
SLACK_ALLOWED_USERS=U01ABC2DEF3              # Comma-separated Member IDs

# Optional
SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL=C01234567890              # Default channel for cron/scheduled messages
SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL_NAME=general              # Human-readable name for the home channel (optional)

Or run the interactive setup:

hermes gateway setup    # Select Slack when prompted

Then start the gateway:

hermes gateway              # Foreground
hermes gateway install      # Install as a user service
sudo hermes gateway install --system   # Linux only: boot-time system service

Step 9: Invite the Bot to Channels

After starting the gateway, you need to invite the bot to any channel where you want it to respond:

/invite @Hermes Agent

The bot will not automatically join channels. You must invite it to each channel individually.

Slash Commands

Every Hermes command (/btw, /stop, /new, /model, /help, ...) is a native Slack slash command — exactly the way they work on Telegram and Discord. Type / in Slack and the autocomplete picker lists every Hermes command with its description.

Under the hood: Hermes ships with a generated Slack app manifest (see Step 1, Option A) that declares every command in COMMAND_REGISTRY as a slash command. In Socket Mode, Slack routes the command event through the WebSocket regardless of the manifest's url field.

Refreshing slash commands after updates

When Hermes adds new commands (e.g. after hermes update), regenerate the manifest and update your Slack app:

hermes slack manifest --write

Then in Slack:

  1. Open https://api.slack.com/apps → your Hermes app

  2. Features → App Manifest → Edit

  3. Paste the new contents of ~/.hermes/slack-manifest.json

  4. Save. Slack will prompt to reinstall the app if scopes or slash commands changed.

Legacy /hermes <subcommand> still works

For backward compatibility with older manifests, you can still type /hermes btw run the tests — Hermes routes it the same way as /btw run the tests. Free-form questions also work: /hermes what's the weather? is treated as a regular message.

Advanced: emit only the slash-commands array

If you maintain your Slack manifest by hand and just want the slash command list:

hermes slack manifest --slashes-only > /tmp/slashes.json

Paste that array into the features.slash_commands key of your existing manifest.

How the Bot Responds

Understanding how Hermes behaves in different contexts:

Context Behavior
DMs Bot responds to every message — no @mention needed
Channels Bot only responds when @mentioned (e.g., @Hermes Agent what time is it?). In channels, Hermes replies in a thread attached to that message.
Threads If you @mention Hermes inside an existing thread, it replies in that same thread. Once the bot has an active session in a thread, subsequent replies in that thread do not require @mention — the bot follows the conversation naturally.
In channels, always @mention the bot to start a conversation. Once the bot is active in a thread, you can reply in that thread without mentioning it. Outside of threads, messages without @mention are ignored to prevent noise in busy channels.

Configuration Options

Beyond the required environment variables from Step 8, you can customize Slack bot behavior through ~/.hermes/config.yaml.

Thread & Reply Behavior

platforms:
  slack:
    # Controls how multi-part responses are threaded
    # "off"   — never thread replies to the original message
    # "first" — first chunk threads to user's message (default)
    # "all"   — all chunks thread to user's message
    reply_to_mode: "first"

    extra:
      # Whether to reply in a thread (default: true).
      # When false, channel messages get direct channel replies instead
      # of threads. Messages inside existing threads still reply in-thread.
      reply_in_thread: true

      # Also post thread replies to the main channel
      # (Slack's "Also send to channel" feature).
      # Only the first chunk of the first reply is broadcast.
      reply_broadcast: false
Key Default Description
platforms.slack.reply_to_mode "first" Threading mode for multi-part messages: "off", "first", or "all"
platforms.slack.extra.reply_in_thread true When false, channel messages get direct replies instead of threads. Messages inside existing threads still reply in-thread.
platforms.slack.extra.reply_broadcast false When true, thread replies are also posted to the main channel. Only the first chunk is broadcast.

Session Isolation

# Global setting — applies to Slack and all other platforms
group_sessions_per_user: true

When true (the default), each user in a shared channel gets their own isolated conversation session. Two people talking to Hermes in #general will have separate histories and contexts.

Set to false if you want a collaborative mode where the entire channel shares one conversation session. Be aware this means users share context growth and token costs, and one user's /reset clears the session for everyone.

Mention & Trigger Behavior

slack:
  # Require @mention in channels (this is the default behavior;
  # the Slack adapter enforces @mention gating in channels regardless,
  # but you can set this explicitly for consistency with other platforms)
  require_mention: true

  # Prevent thread auto-engagement: only reply to channel messages that
  # contain an explicit @mention. With this OFF (default), Slack can
  # "auto-engage" — remembering past mentions in a thread and following
  # up on bot-message replies, and resuming active sessions without a
  # fresh mention. With strict_mention ON, every new channel message
  # must @mention the bot before Hermes will respond.
  strict_mention: false

  # Custom mention patterns that trigger the bot
  # (in addition to the default @mention detection)
  mention_patterns:
    - "hey hermes"
    - "hermes,"

  # Text prepended to every outgoing message
  reply_prefix: ""

tip When to use strict_mention Set this to true in busy workspaces where Slack's default "the bot remembers this thread" behavior surprises users — for example, a long tech-support thread where the bot helped at the start and you'd rather it stay silent unless explicitly pinged again. DMs and active interactive sessions are unaffected.

Slack supports both patterns: `@mention` required to start a conversation by default, but you can opt specific channels out via `SLACK_FREE_RESPONSE_CHANNELS` (comma-separated channel IDs) or `slack.free_response_channels` in `config.yaml`. Once the bot has an active session in a thread, subsequent thread replies do not require a mention. In DMs the bot always responds without needing a mention.

Unauthorized User Handling

slack:
  # What happens when an unauthorized user (not in SLACK_ALLOWED_USERS) DMs the bot
  # "pair"   — prompt them for a pairing code (default)
  # "ignore" — silently drop the message
  unauthorized_dm_behavior: "pair"

You can also set this globally for all platforms:

unauthorized_dm_behavior: "pair"

The platform-specific setting under slack: takes precedence over the global setting.

Voice Transcription

# Global setting — enable/disable automatic transcription of incoming voice messages
stt_enabled: true

When true (the default), incoming audio messages are automatically transcribed using the configured STT provider before being processed by the agent.

Full Example

# Global gateway settings
group_sessions_per_user: true
unauthorized_dm_behavior: "pair"
stt_enabled: true

# Slack-specific settings
slack:
  require_mention: true
  unauthorized_dm_behavior: "pair"

# Platform config
platforms:
  slack:
    reply_to_mode: "first"
    extra:
      reply_in_thread: true
      reply_broadcast: false

Home Channel

Set SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL to a channel ID where Hermes will deliver scheduled messages, cron job results, and other proactive notifications. To find a channel ID:

  1. Right-click the channel name in Slack

  2. Click View channel details

  3. Scroll to the bottom — the Channel ID is shown there

SLACK_HOME_CHANNEL=C01234567890

Make sure the bot has been invited to the channel (/invite @Hermes Agent).

Multi-Workspace Support

Hermes can connect to multiple Slack workspaces simultaneously using a single gateway instance. Each workspace is authenticated independently with its own bot user ID.

Configuration

Provide multiple bot tokens as a comma-separated list in SLACK_BOT_TOKEN:

# Multiple bot tokens — one per workspace
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-workspace1-token,xoxb-workspace2-token,xoxb-workspace3-token

# A single app-level token is still used for Socket Mode
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-your-app-token

Or in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

platforms:
  slack:
    token: "xoxb-workspace1-token,xoxb-workspace2-token"

OAuth Token File

In addition to tokens in the environment or config, Hermes also loads tokens from an OAuth token file at:

~/.hermes/slack_tokens.json

This file is a JSON object mapping team IDs to token entries:

{
  "T01ABC2DEF3": {
    "token": "xoxb-workspace-token-here",
    "team_name": "My Workspace"
  }
}

Tokens from this file are merged with any tokens specified via SLACK_BOT_TOKEN. Duplicate tokens are automatically deduplicated.

How it works

Voice Messages

Hermes supports voice on Slack:

Per-Channel Prompts

Assign ephemeral system prompts to specific Slack channels. The prompt is injected at runtime on every turn — never persisted to transcript history — so changes take effect immediately.

slack:
  channel_prompts:
    "C01RESEARCH": |
      You are a research assistant. Focus on academic sources,
      citations, and concise synthesis.
    "C02ENGINEERING": |
      Code review mode. Be precise about edge cases and
      performance implications.

Keys are Slack channel IDs (find them via channel details → "About" → scroll to bottom). All messages in the matching channel get the prompt injected as an ephemeral system instruction.

Per-Channel Skill Bindings

Auto-load a skill whenever a new session starts in a specific channel or DM. Unlike per-channel prompts (which are injected on every turn), skill bindings inject the skill content as a user message at session start — it becomes part of the conversation history and does not need to be reloaded on subsequent turns.

This is ideal for DMs or channels with a dedicated purpose (flashcards, a domain-specific Q&A bot, a support triage channel, etc.) where you don't want the model's own skill selector to decide whether to load on every short reply.

slack:
  channel_skill_bindings:
    # DM channel — always runs in "german-flashcards" mode
    - id: "D0ATH9TQ0G6"
      skills:
        - german-flashcards
    # Research channel — preload multiple skills in order
    - id: "C01RESEARCH"
      skills:
        - arxiv
        - writing-plans
    # Short form: single skill as a string
    - id: "C02SUPPORT"
      skill: hubspot-on-demand

Notes:

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
Bot doesn't respond to DMs Verify message.im is in your event subscriptions and the app is reinstalled
Bot works in DMs but not in channels Most common issue. Add message.channels and message.groups to event subscriptions, reinstall the app, and invite the bot to the channel with /invite @Hermes Agent
Bot doesn't respond to @mentions in channels 1) Check message.channels event is subscribed. 2) Bot must be invited to the channel. 3) Ensure channels:history scope is added. 4) Reinstall the app after scope/event changes
Bot ignores messages in private channels Add both the message.groups event subscription and groups:history scope, then reinstall the app and /invite the bot
"Sending messages to this app has been turned off" in DMs Enable the Messages Tab in App Home settings (see Step 5)
"not_authed" or "invalid_auth" errors Regenerate your Bot Token and App Token, update .env
Bot responds but can't post in a channel Invite the bot to the channel with /invite @Hermes Agent
Bot can chat but can't read uploaded images/files Add files:read, then reinstall the app. Hermes now surfaces attachment access diagnostics in-chat when Slack returns scope/auth/permission failures.
missing_scope error Add the required scope in OAuth & Permissions, then reinstall the app
Socket disconnects frequently Check your network; Bolt auto-reconnects but unstable connections cause lag
Changed scopes/events but nothing changed You must reinstall the app to your workspace after any scope or event subscription change

Quick Checklist

If the bot isn't working in channels, verify all of the following:

  1. ✅ message.channels event is subscribed (for public channels)

  2. ✅ message.groups event is subscribed (for private channels)

  3. ✅ app_mention event is subscribed

  4. ✅ channels:history scope is added (for public channels)

  5. ✅ groups:history scope is added (for private channels)

  6. ✅ App was reinstalled after adding scopes/events

  7. ✅ Bot was invited to the channel (/invite @Hermes Agent)

  8. ✅ You are @mentioning the bot in your message

Security

**Always set `SLACK_ALLOWED_USERS`** with the Member IDs of authorized users. Without this setting, the gateway will **deny all messages** by default as a safety measure. Never share your bot tokens — treat them like passwords.